Estádio José Alvalade

Estádio José Alvalade (Portuguese pronunciation: [ɨʃˈtaðju ʒuˈzɛ alvɐˈlaðɨ]; is a football stadium in Lisbon, Portugal, home of Sporting Clube de Portugal. It was built adjacent to the site of the older stadium. The stadium is named after José Alvalade (1885–1918), the founder and first club member of Sporting CP in the early twentieth century.

Estádio José Alvalade
Map
Full nameEstádio José Alvalade
LocationLisbon, Portugal
Coordinates38°45′40″N 9°9′39″W / 38.76111°N 9.16083°W / 38.76111; -9.16083
Public transitLisbon Metro  Verde   Amarela  at Campo Grande
OwnerSporting Clube de Portugal
Capacity50,095
Record attendance50,046 vs Real Madrid[1]
(22 November 2016)
Field size105 x 68 m
SurfaceGrass
Construction
Broke ground15 January 2001
Opened6 August 2003
Construction cost€105 million
ArchitectTomás Taveira
Tenants
Sporting Clube de Portugal (2003–present)
Portugal national football team (selected matches)

Origin edit

The previous José Alvalade Stadium was opened on 10 June 1956.[2] Plans by Sporting CP to modernize the club in the late 1990s coincided with the decision to award Portugal the right to host UEFA Euro 2004, and the decision was made to build a new stadium, with construction beginning on 15 January 2001. The club's statutes dictated that the stadium would be called Estádio José Alvalade. It would be the club's seventh stadium.[3][4]

History edit

The stadium is the center of a complex called Alvalade XXI, designed by Portuguese architect Tomás Taveira,[5][6][7] which includes a mall called Alvaláxia with a 12-screen movie theater, a health club, the club's museum, a sports pavilion, a clinic, and an office building. The complex cost a total of €162 million, with the stadium accounting with almost €120 million. On the exterior, the stadium featured multicoloured tiles which were later removed. In 2021, Sporting CP, headed by club president Frederico Varandas, announced that it would change the colour of the seats in the multicoloured stands of Estádio José Alvalade to green (the main colour of the sports club). The colour change was completed in 2022.[8] Originally the seats were arranged in a random-looking mosaic of mixed colours, however during its second decade of use these were all gradually changed to dark green, with the roof support towers and access stairways, initially bright yellow, also repainted green.[9]

Although it eventually received a fifth star becoming a UEFA 5-star stadium, it was initially classified by UEFA as a 4-star stadium.[10] The stadium – originally projected to hold only 40,000 spectators at any given time – has a capacity of 50,095[11] and was acoustically engineered as a venue for major concerts. The stadium has also a total of 1,315 underground parking spaces, including 30 for disabled spectators.

 
Estádio José Alvalade, Lisbon.

The new stadium official opening was on 6 August 2003 when Sporting played and beat Manchester United 3–1. Luís Filipe scored the first-ever goal at the new Estádio José Alvalade in that friendly win against Manchester United playing alongside Sporting Portugal's teammate Cristiano Ronaldo, then aged 18, who made his last appearance[12] for the Portuguese club on that same day.[13][14]

The stadium hosted five matches of UEFA Euro 2004, one of them being the semi-final between Portugal and the Netherlands, which Portugal won 2–1. In May 2005, the stadium was upgraded to 5-star stadium status by UEFA, the same month it hosted the 2005 UEFA Cup Final between Sporting and CSKA Moscow, which CSKA Moscow won 3–1.[15]

It hosted quarter-finals and semi-finals matches during the 2019–20 UEFA Champions League.[16] The stadium is one of the potential venues for the 2030 FIFA World Cup which Portugal will co-host along with Morocco and Spain.

UEFA Euro 2004 edit

Team #1 Score Team #2 Date Attendance Round
Sweden   5–0   Bulgaria 14 June 2004 31,652 Group stage
Spain   0–1   Portugal 20 June 2004 47,491 Group stage
Germany   1–2   Czech Republic 23 June 2004 46,849 Group stage
France   0–1   Greece 25 June 2004 45,390 Quarter-finals
Portugal   2–1   Netherlands 30 June 2004 46,679 Semi-finals

Notable matches edit

First match edit

Team #1 Score Team #2 Date
Sporting CP   3–1   Manchester United 6 August 2003

2005 UEFA Cup Final edit

Team #1 Score Team #2 Date Attendance
Sporting CP   1–3   CSKA Moscow 18 May 2005 47,085

International matches edit

Team #1 Team #2 Date Attendance Competition Notes
Portugal   7–1   Russia 13 October 2004 44,258 2006 World Cup qualification Russia's biggest ever defeat
Portugal   4–0   Belgium 24 March 2007 48,009 UEFA Euro 2008 qualifying First ever competitive win over Belgium
Portugal   1–1   Serbia 12 September 2007 47,000 UEFA Euro 2008 qualifying
Portugal   2–3   Denmark 10 September 2008 33,406 2010 World Cup qualification First ever competitive loss against Denmark
Portugal   1–1   Israel 11 October 2013 48,317 2014 World Cup qualification
Portugal   0–1   France 4 September 2015 39,853 Friendly
Portugal   3–0   Luxembourg 12 October 2019 47,308 UEFA Euro 2020 qualifying
Portugal   0–0   Spain 7 October 2020 2,500* Friendly First match played in Portugal with fans in the stands, during the COVID-19 pandemic
Portugal   3–0   Sweden 14 October 2020 5,000* 2020–21 UEFA Nations League Second match played in Portugal with fans in the stands, during the COVID-19 pandemic
Portugal   4–0   Israel 9 June 2021 0 Friendly Played behind closed doors due to the COVID-19 pandemic
Portugal   4–0   Switzerland 5 June 2022 42,325 2022–23 UEFA Nations League
Portugal   2–0   Czech Republic 9 June 2022 44,100 2022–23 UEFA Nations League
Portugal   4–0   Nigeria 17 November 2022 43,621 Friendly
Portugal   4–0   Liechtenstein 23 March 2023 45,378 UEFA Euro 2024 qualifying

Seating distribution edit

  • Disabled Seats – 50
  • Skybox Seats – 1,542
  • VIP and Business Seats – 1,968
  • Tribune Seats – 100
  • Public Seats (Level A) – 24,261
  • Public Seats (Level B) – 21,970
  • Press Seats – 204

Transport edit

The Stadium is served by the Campo Grande station[17] of the Lisbon Metro and a bus terminal served by several companies. The Segunda Circular, a major ring road of Lisbon, runs close by and the stadium can be reached via the exit Estádio de Alvalade. There are several car parks around the stadium.

It is a relatively short distance (3 km) from the Estádio da Luz, homeground of rivals S.L. Benfica.

References edit

  1. ^ Group, Global Media (22 November 2016). "Sporting-Real: recorde de assistência em Alvalade". ojogo.pt. Archived from the original on 6 October 2019. Retrieved 29 July 2018.
  2. ^ "A inauguração do Estádio José Alvalade em 1956". Torcida Verde. Retrieved 5 April 2020.
  3. ^ "Stadium History". www.sporting.pt. 2015-07-09. Retrieved 2021-01-15.
  4. ^ "Estádio José Alvalade". www.sporting.pt. 2014-11-26. Retrieved 2021-01-15.
  5. ^ Porto Editora – Estádio Alvalade XXI na Infopédia [em linha]. Porto: Porto Editora. [consult. 2023-09-02 17:32:31]. Disponível em https://www.infopedia.pt/recursos/lendas-portuguesas/$estadio-alvalade-xxi
  6. ^ "Arquiteto do Estádio de Alvalade lamenta troca de cadeiras: "Ficará abaixo de deprimente"". www.record.pt (in European Portuguese). Retrieved 2023-09-02.
  7. ^ "Estádio Alvalade XXI". Martifer. Retrieved 2023-09-02.
  8. ^ "Sporting com casa nova: cadeiras verdes prontas este mês - Sporting - Jornal Record". Record. Retrieved 2024-03-09.
  9. ^ Sporting CP v Tottenham Hotspur - Group D - UEFA Champions League, Getty Images, 13 September 2022
  10. ^ "UEFA 5 Star Stadiums – StadiumDB.com". stadiumdb.com. Retrieved 2023-09-02.
  11. ^ "Sporting Clube de Portugal". Archived from the original on 17 October 2012. Retrieved 4 November 2016.
  12. ^ "O último jogo de Cristiano Ronaldo no Sporting foi há 15 anos | Vídeo". Jornal SOL (in Portuguese). Retrieved 2023-09-02.
  13. ^ "Último campeão por Sporting e Benfica dedica-se às framboesas". www.dn.pt (in European Portuguese). 2017-09-17. Retrieved 2023-09-02.
  14. ^ "Há 15 anos, Ronaldo convenceu Ferguson a assinar o "casamento perfeito"" [15 years ago, Ronaldo convinced Ferguson to sign the "perfect marriage"]. Diário de Notícias (in Portuguese). 6 August 2018. Retrieved 4 February 2021.
  15. ^ "Estádio José Alvalade". www.sporting.pt. 2014-11-26. Retrieved 2021-01-15.
  16. ^ UEFA.com. "Draws | UEFA Champions League". UEFA.com. Retrieved 2021-01-16.
  17. ^ "Google Maps". Google Maps.

External links edit

Preceded by UEFA Cup
Final venue

2005
Succeeded by